Untitled designThis past weekend, San Marcos was overtaken by Float Festers: a mass of eager music fanatics barely wearing any clothes (some were just in bathing suits and flip flops) with a sense of adventure. The river was flowing hard in San Marcos, providing lots of fun and a few stories for all who floated down the 3 hours (ish) path. As it goes with most festivals held in Texas anytime between April and October: it was HOT. But, the Float Fest attendees didn’t seem to mind. The donned hats, sunscreen or just soaked up the rays during the two-day festival held in a field deep in the heart of Texas.

MetricOnly 45 minutes (or so) from Austin, this is a great festival for locals to attend. But, it’s also a fantastic one for out of towners to visit if Texas, Austin and tubing down the river (a favorite Texan pastime) is on their bucket list. The 2016 line-up was packed with heavy hitters like Chromeo, Santigold, Rick Ross, Big Gigantic, Future Islands, Metric, Kongos, Bleachers, Yeasayer, Bone Thugs n’ Harmony, Slim Thug and Rooney. There was not one disappointing show in the entire bunch. Every artist brought his or her “A” game. Santigold brought with her her two dancers, lots of props and a couple outfit changes; Metric danced around the stage like the beautiful songstress that she is; Chromeo brought a fun setup of keyboard stands that were fashioned to be woman’s legs. I could go on. But, the best thing to do would be to start making plans for next year. Just remember–if you can’t stand the heat, get out of Texas!

A couple of fun things I saw: those freakin’ wind hammock things! How many of us Untitled designhave seen the ads on facebook for those canoe looking couches that you can take with you pretty much anywhere by just swooshing it around in the air for a few seconds? These puppies were everywhere and they looked so dang comfy. Also, carnival rides. CARNIVAL RIDES! How great is it to take a break from the heat by swinging through the air on a carnival swing or breezing through the sky in a Ferris Wheel? Everyone looked like they were having a blast and really enjoying it. Also in attendance, which isn’t a big surprise: lots of Texas gear. You could purchase all sorts of Texas inspired t-shirts, necklaces and more. As a Texas girl, I loved browsing through all the options.

Another really great plus to Float Fest is the size. It is big enough that there are large crowds of music fanatics for you to meet and bond with, but it’s not so big that it’s a logistical nightmare. You can drive your car in to the festival grounds and park on site. You do have to ferris wheelpay for parking, but it’s reasonable. Or, you could camp on-site! One of the biggest bonuses in my mind was that the stages are super close to each other and have alternating set times, so you can literally see every band if you wanted to. And for those folks traveling with lots of friends, the festival area is small enough in size that you probably won’t lose them for very long. There was great food (including Torchy’s Tacos–YUM) and great vendors. VIP had free cold water all day for both days. And one thing you usually don’t see a lot of: the artists are likely to walk around and mix and mingle with the crowd. For instance, I saw and chatted with Rooney after their set and they were super approachable and kind.

Float Festival is for you if:

  • You LOVE the sun and just can’t get enough
  • You can’t wait to float down any river in Texas once Summer appears
  • You love music festivals
  • You don’t really want to deal with HUGE crowds and stages that are super far apart
  • You want to see every band on the lineup

Keep your eyes peeled for next year’s line-up and festival ticket release! There are lots of great reasons to take a trip to Float Fest next year!

Big thanks to Float Fest for inviting the Lauren Ignited team out to San Marcos for two days of fun in the sun. We will be posting a full album of all the photos taken at the festival shortly. So, if we snapped your pic, don’t dispare! It will be online soon!

Connect with Float Fest on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Follow the conversation with hashtag #ThisIsFloatFest.

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